Child Support
Child support is the ongoing obligation for the financial care and support of a child of a relationship. Child support is based on the legal duty that both parents are obligated to financially support their child, even when the child is not living with both parents.
The periodic payments ordered by a court most often require the parent with non-primary joint conservatorship or possessory conservatorship, called the “obligor”, to pay a regular amount of money each month to the parent with primary conservatorship or sole conservatorship, called the “obligee”. There can be situations where the custodial parent might pay child support to the non-custodial parent, but those times are not common. Child support is frequently ordered as part of a divorce, suit to determine parentage, or other suit affecting the parent-child relationship.
There is no gender preference in an award of child support. Likewise, contact between the parent and child is a separate issue from the calculation of child support. The obligor must pay child support even if he or she does not want to have an ongoing relationship with the child. The child’s right to financial support from the parents supersedes an adult’s wish not to assume a parenting role. In some situations where one parent chooses not to have a relationship with the child, the other parent can request and receive additional amounts of child support over the guideline standards.
On the other hand, where parents have almost equal access to the child or children, the law is not clear on how child support is calculated. Some courts may order child support calculated on the guideline standard formula. Other courts calculate what each parent would pay to the other in child support according to the guideline formula. Or, some courts may just do away with all child support obligations for either parent, especially where the parents’ incomes are close to the same amount.
Texas law determines child support based on the obligor’s “net resources”. Net resources includes not only the obligor’s salary and wages, but also all other forms of financial resources available to the obligor that can be used to support the child. For example, rental income, trust income, or regular gifts received from family members can be included in the obligor’s resources for calculation of child support.
The obligor is entitled to a credit for income taxes paid, but only the amount of taxes that would be paid by a single person claiming one tax exemption. This calculation may not be the same as the actual amount of taxes deducted from the obligor’s income.
Where the obligor has children in only one relationship, child support is based on a percentage of the obligor’s income and the number of children: 20% for one child, 25% for two children, 30% for three children, 35% for four children, and 40% for five or more children.
Where the obligor has children in multiple relationships, the calculation of child support becomes more complex. The obligor gets a slight credit for owing child support for children in multiple households.
In Texas, a parent’s financial obligation to support a child ends on the later of the child’s 18th birthday or the child’s graduation from high school. Beyond age 18, provided that the child remains enrolled in a program leading to a high school diploma, the child support relationship will continue.